Sea Otter Classic: Day One- Part II

One of the more astounding things, I felt, that I saw at Sea Otter were the Edge Composites carbon fiber rimmed clincher 29″er wheels. These are not your garden variety wheels here folks. Edge Composites, who have a background in carbon technology that is amazing in itself, have been quietly testing these hoops in some pretty demanding conditions for two years now. They have passed muster and now will be available as complete wheels using Chris King hubs exclusively or as rims only for building onto your favorite hub set.

Edge Composites, who have supplied tubing and sub assemblies to the likes of Crumpton, Parlee, Ruegamer, and Vanilla, seem to know their stuff. Take into consideration the spoke holes in this rim. Drilled, right? No, they actually mold the spoke holes into the rim! Then they add a spherical washer inside to better support the nipple and allow it to spin more freely during build up and truing.

Now for the kicker: They are going to produce these carbon 29″er rims in a tubular format. That means they need a tire. So, Edge Composites is currently in the works with Clement on a couple of widths of 29″er tubular mountain bike tires. Word is that the widths will be 2.1″ and 2.4″. Weights are really impressive, but Edge claims it is the ride quality and toughness that are the selling points of these rims.

Sticking with a carbon theme here, I just can’t get enough of Calfee’s bamboo bikes. If you ever get a chance to see one of these up close, they are amazing.

The detail and texture is really eye catching. Is it me, or do these joints on the Calfees just keep getting better?

And now for something completely different……

You’ve got to keep your eyes peeled at Sea Otter because not all of the cool bikes are in the booths being fawned over. Some of them are lovingly ridden off road, such as this custom Sycip 29″er. My picture doesn’t do it any justice, as it really sparkled in the sun.

Stay tuned for Day Two……

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This entry was posted on April 18, 2008 at 1:45 am and is filed under 29"er. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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No Responses to “Sea Otter Classic: Day One- Part II”

Glad the news is out, I’ve know at least about the clincher rims for some time. Cool that they are not wasting time to try tubulars. Will this be in the 29″ format for sure? We all know various brands are doing the 650C thing already.

I wonder what tubular rims with Edge has come up with. My best guesses, even for narrower (50mm) tubulars, were around 33mm.
Let’s hope Clement and Edge are in time for the Olympics, and that some smart pro arrangs for sponsor stickers to be stuck on there. If Edge and Clement don’t sponsor the riders themselves, that is.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for those Edge wheels. Forgetting any other mountains of doubt, how do you “quietly test[ing] these hoops in some pretty demanding conditions for two years now” without tires?

The technology is there. I worked at LEW when we were working on carbon clinchers. We had a client worried they would crack when hit with a pot hole. My boss smacked them against the curb with a road tire pumped to 140lbs….no issue.

Now me being one to be a bit extreme, I ripped the tire off and smacked the wheel into the curb myself….with my full force (i’m 230lbs it wasn’t a tap and well I like to break stuff). Nothing. it actually CHIPPED the curb!

I road 1200 gram (real weight) road wheels 16/20 spokes f/r for almost a year. I had a license to kill and hit every pot hole I could and road dirt roads with them. Nothing. Didn’t go out of true a hair.

The first wave of wheels are clinchers as I understand it. Testing stuff on the DL is very easy actually. Rock Shox does it all the time. It’s not like you go test stuff with your logo all over a van and make it known. It happens all the time.

Tubular 29er wheels…interesting thought. Time will tell. To test those wouldn’t be too tough as I believe there are 44mm tubular cross tires out there which would actually be harsher on the rims from a durability standpoint.

Dugast has been taking order for custom 45mm tubs for years, and could do wider if asked kindly. Several Olympians already got such tires, just in case, for the 2004 Athens Games. Offer Dugast a 26″x50mm tires, and you up with a 29×45 tubular due to the stretching of the tread.
I saw a Belgian guy at a race once, Ksyriums with Ritchey treaded tubulars. He rolled one off the narrow rim and DNF.

I got to hold the Edge wheels today and they are killer nice and killer expensive… 800’ish per rim. Whoa! Way, out of my reach.

I also saw the Spot belt drive in person and that’s a really hot setup. They said they will be selling a conversion kit, which should be about $150 from QBP. If you have the Breezer style dropouts you can modify your frame to accept the belt drive system. When I get home I’m going to see what frame I can convert, because I loved it and want it….

JHK and T- Brown used dugast 45mm tubs on bonty carbon rims, with great success, and there only 19mm wide, if i was to do it id use mavic reflex at 21mm, and also dugast will custom any 29er tire up to 2.00 wide onto a tubular, as will FMB, who are apparently making a 700x50c tub at the moment……….